Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finley Boylan
“All of us have something in our hearts like a flower that cannot bloom because it is held in secret.”
While I have issues with the very end of the novel– feeling the answer to the central search of the novel a bit tacked on, I sped through this book, marveling at the way Picoult and Boylan wove the bee-keeping, the life of a transitioned girl, teens and motherhood into and through the novel.
As a mother, I ached for the main character and the mother of the girl whose death begins a search to punish her killer. The pain bourne by a parent is only equal to the joy of watching a child grow into someone beautiful.
As someone who has watched a loved one face long term consequences of abuse, I wanted to cry out against the injustice of any person trapped in this pain.
In the words of Boylan: “Mad Honey is a novel of suspense about the secrets we keep from each other and from ourselves.”
In the words of Picoult: “There are things that I’ve wanted to write about for a long time, about identity and about how we become who we are, and Jenny and I have very different lived experiences, as women, in this country.”
Final comment: the novel started as a dream that Boylan had. When she woke, she tweeted about the dream and Jodi Picoult responded to partner in the writing of the novel. See interview with Christina Harcar on Audible.
One Good Mentor is all you need 